Hollis Calloway (Hartford Reeves)
Hollis Calloway (known to many as Hartford Reeves) was a disgraced ship captain of the Dupont Company who faked his death to become one of the most notorious pirates to plague the Outer Rim. Along with his crew, Hartford's Hazards, Calloway led a series of daring raids against the Dupont Company, and was a participant in the Elusian Civil War. Following the war's conclusion, Hollis assumed his original identity once more and regained his former glory with the Company, who were unaware of his brief career in piracy. During his time as a pirate, Hollis underwent an unprecedented rise to power, and was personally responsible for the killing or capture of no less than four other Pirate Barons. Though not without enormous losses, his Hazards defeated the Black Hills Gang and The Tong in battle, and led an impressive career of raids on Dupont convoys leading up to their eventual defeat. In less than a year's time, Hollis became a pivotal member in the Elusian political system, and was personally responsible for many of the events leading to the Dupont Company's subjugation of the Isles. Early Life and The Dupont Company Hollis was the third son of Lord John Calloway of Letch. His brothers destined for power and acclaim, Hollis chose to distance himself from his noble roots and take on a career as a seaman. He was accepted into the Dupont Officer's Academy in Southpoint, and gained some notoriety after personally rescuing the nephew of Company Chairman Henri Dupont in a skirmish with slavers in the Far East. In return for his heroism, Dupont had Hollis fast-tracked through Officer's school, and was awarded captaincy of the Blue Duchess of St. Michel and a prestigious position in the Dupont Armada. Soon tiring of his position in the navy and longing for adventure, Hollis spent only a few short years at the Blue Duchess' helm before transferring to the Outer Rim. There, he would assume the role of Captain on a series of shipping vessels serving Barnsmouth, The Sapphire Strand, The Yuttu Republic and other such ports. There, he would appoint Morton Pickford, a life-long friend, as his First Mate. While he styled himself as a man of the people, he found it difficult to shake the superiority he learned as the son of a noble. He often squabbled particularly with Grennulous Thatch, his Barge Mate. Hollis' folly as a Dupont Captain would come years later, when his vessel was contracted to escort a brand-new Dupont flagship from the shipyards in City of Progress to Henri Dupont's winter home in the Verdant Islands. While stopping over in the port of Key Malino, Hollis was drunkenly swindled by a local sooth-sayer, who convinced him to trade the ship for a set of magic pearls. Hollis' superstition got the better of him, and it wasn't until the stolen flagship had left port that he realized his error. As punishment for his gross negligence, Hollis was stripped of his captaincy and exiled back to the Outer Rim with no clear orders, doomed to be shuttled from port to port as an "invited guest" of a ship he once commanded. In exile, Hollis struggled to save face with his unsympathetic crew, and Grennulous Thatch in particular. His years of resentment now emboldened, Thatch made it his business to ensure Hollis' misery, and thwart his attempts to subvert the new captain, Yancy Wilks. The Shipwreck, and the creation of Hartford Reeves It was on a particularly dull voyage across the Outer Rim that Hollis' life took an unexpected turn. For this journey, Hollis was tasked with personally delivering a sealed chest to the officials in Kontembi Station, located on the forgettable and distant Elusian Isles. While Hollis was told the chest's contents were of supreme importance, he was instructed not to open it under any circumstances, or risk grave consequences. He passed most of the voyage uneventfully, drinking away his sorrows with his fellow exile, Morton Pickford. Then, hours before the ship was to make port at Kontembi Station, they were ambushed by a pair of ships manned by Ridley's Raiders. Instead of taking the ship hostage, as was customary for Elusian pirates, the Raiders sought to slaughter the Duponts and sink the ship, cargo and all. The ensuing battle was a bloody one, and no company man was said to have made it out alive, save the Barge Mate Grennulous Thatch. In truth, Calloway, Pickford and Crowsman Mossbury Wormwood escaped the sinking ship; the four of them ending up scattered throughout the Elusians. Along with Morton Pickford, Hollis washed up on an uninhabited rock southwest of Kalu Cove, that he later dubbed "Stinkfruit Island," after it's unique flora. Miraculously, Hollis and Morton were able not only to survive the scuttling of their ship, but as well maintain possession of the chest; their sworn charge. In a desperate search for vital supplies, the pair opened the chest to find that it contained nothing more than a stack of misprinted Dupont captain's ledgers, primed for incineration. To Hollis, this was the final insult from his superiors - given literal garbage to deliver, when once he was the pride of the Dupont Navy. In disgust, he vowed to seek revenge against the company, rather than the redemption he earlier pined for. Armed with the ledger to predict shipments and troop movements, Hollis would become the greatest pirate the Outer Rim ever knew, harassing Dupont convoys and defiantly standing as a thorn in the Company's side. After hitching a ride to nearby Kalu Cove from Carmichael the Fence, then under the name Captain Noarn Ricardio, Hollis wandered the city in search of refuge to plan his next move. He found himself at the Crook and Crosier, a local tavern frequented by a bandit gang known as the Ruffians. Hollis was regrettably caught up in the gang's arrest at the hands of Antonia Desantis, and accidentally talked his way into receiving an indefinite banishment from the city of Kalu. Unceremoniously dumped at the city gates, with Morton, Mossbury and an unfriendly gang of thieves, Hollis was on course for a life fraught with danger, as the newest member of the Elusians' least notorious criminals. The Ruffians With nowhere else to go, Hollis decided to join the Ruffians, if only for the time being. He had struck up a dialogue with Old Grenouille, the shipless crew's official first mate, who seemed to have much more in mind than he let on. The Ruffians were at a crossroads, having not long before been divorced from the Black Hills Gang following a leadership dispute. Their leader, John Barnum, was a lieutenant under Rodrick Croup, "The Pirate King." Croup had been Baron of the East, and member of the Elusian Council of Barons. When he died of old age some eight months before, his lieutenants squabbled over who would assume the role at the head of the gang. Barnum squared off with Lucius Doherty, his fellow lieutenant, and lost in the ensuing Baronsmoot. In outrage, Barnum took his loyalists and left the Black Hills, including a reluctant Old Grenouille. In the time since, the Ruffians had been wandering Kalu Island, stealing and trespassing as they went. With an under-qualified leader and no ship to sail, the gang was floundering; in Hollis, Grenouille saw a chance to change the status quo. Shortly after leaving the city gates, Hollis approached Barnum and revealed his master plan, boasting his abilities in predicting Dupont shipments and promising a world of riches, were the Ruffians to help him. Though suspicious of his credibility, Barnum could not pass up an opportunity to deliver a victory for his men. Along with Grenouille, the pair hatched a plan to steal themselves a ship, and stick it to their former compatriots in the process. That night, the Ruffians crept into the Black Hills and launched a daring burglary. Hollis and Grenouille led a small team of bandits into Black Hills Point, the gang's stronghold. There, they boarded The Lancer, ''Doherty's prized vessel, and began prepping it to quietly sail out under the gang's noses. While there, Hollis overheard a shocking exchange between members of the gang, suggesting that the Black-Hillsmen were forging an alliance with the hated Dupont Company. Before Hollis and his team could unmoor ''The Lancer, ''John Barnum stormed the stronghold with the rest of the Ruffians, breaking their cover and starting an unwinnable battle. Using some quick thinking, Hollis enlisted Victor Hansen and Arlen Tremayne to sabotage the Hillsmen's armory, creating an explosive distraction big enough to give the Ruffians a window of escape. He then signalled to Barnum that ''The Lancer was ready to sail on command, and welcomed the beleaguered bandits onto the newly rigged vessel. With Hansen and Tremayne returned to the ship, and every surviving Ruffian on-board, Hollis got the ship moving and left Black Hills Point behind, if not its inhabitants. What followed was a perilous pursuit into open waters, with the Ruffians struggling to stay out of the range of the Hillsmen's cannons. Enraged by their theft, Lucius Doherty sent his largest ship, The Righteous Indignation, to retrieve their heads. The Ruffians would have been captured, were it not for the courage and determination of both Hollis and John Barnum, displaying a rare run of good leadership. With their doom narrowly escaped, the band of misfits and stowaways could breathe a sigh of relief. Moments after the battle's end, Hollis witnessed a fight between Barnum and Old Grenouille, that ended with the former's death. Grenouille struck a deal with Hollis to keep the murder secret, in exchange for his appointment as captain. Grenouille knew he could never be an effective leader, but saw in Hollis a trusted ally he could join to build a better crew. Reluctantly, Hollis agreed to the arrangement, and became Captain Hartford Reeves of the Ruffians. His first act as Captain was to reunite with the landbound Ruffians who had stayed behind from the battle, and launch his first raid. The Ruffians' first attack on the Duponts was a success. They set up a trap in a popular westerly shipping route, using The Lancer and two smaller schooners, The Delinquent ''and ''The Ne'er-Do-Well. ''With their hold flush with stolen Dupont cargo, the Ruffians sought a crime-friendly port to fence their goods catch their breath. Grenouille suggested to set out east, to the pirate hot-spot known as The Phoenician; the lair of Baron Sastor Mcnatty of the South. There, the frog promised, strings could be pulled, and an audience could be gained with the Baron himself. Excitedly, Hollis obliged his plan. Sastor Mcnatty The Ruffians arrived at The Phoenician, which Hollis came to discover was not an island, but rather an enormous barge sat atop one of the Elusians' southern channels. Therein was a cramped and stinking den of criminals and exiles, ruled by the foppish Sastor Mcnatty. Hollis disembarked with Grenouille and Morton Pickford, whom he had named his Man of War and Man of Coins, in place of a traditional, single first-mate. Grenouille made contact with Mcnatty's own right hand, Hasenpfeffer Jones, and secured an audience for Hollis with the Baron. Intent on securing a deal to sell raiding rutters derived from the ledger, Hollis's aim was to expand his crew and fill his coffers with doubloons. In meeting Mcnatty, Hollis found himself in a completely different arrangement. He was received with intrigue by the Baron, who was impressed by the precision of his first raid and the mystery of his sudden appearance in the Isles. Instead of taking his offer, Sastor countered by offering Hollis a place in his fleet, serving as a raid-captain with all of the equipment, men and luxuries he could ask for. Taken aback by the opportunity, Hollis decided the best course of action was to put it to a vote. The crew decided, in a vote of six to five, the Ruffians elected to join the Mcnatty Fleet. Moments after the counting of the votes, Hollis deduced that Grenouille had tampered with the ballots, engineering a pro-fleet victory where none existed. While he wished to maintain the integrity of the vote, Hollis knew that joining the fleet was the right choice, and reluctantly kept the secret of Grenouille's deception. Returning to Mcnatty's quarters, Hollis announced the crew's false decision, and pledged his loyalty to the Baron of the South. For Hollis, the following months were filled with daring raids and great victories, earning himself and the Mcnatties a mountain of coin. ''The Lancer was refurbished and renovated, and his crew swelled in ranks and experience. They were battle-hardened now, more than the outcasts and screw-ups they had been when leaving Kalu. Hollis built a strong partnership with Mcnatty, and had won over the affections of Fleet Admiral Elizabeth Rawley, not to mention Hasenpfeffer Jones. With his reputation bolstered and a string of successful raids behind him, Hollis took his place as the pride of the Mcnatty Fleet, piquing the curiosity of the Baron Council's Chairman, the notorious Hieronymous Ridley. The Doherty Incident Then, Sastor approached Hollis with a troubling proposition. Mcnatty had been tipped off about a major shipment coming to the Isles from Dupont waters, with an unknown passenger. Mcnatty dispatched Hollis to the border between his and the western waters, where the point of interception would be. The problem was that not only did Mcnatty know of the shipment, but so did Lucius Doherty, Baron of the West and victim of Hollis' earlier burglary. Also on Hollis' mind was the revelation of Doherty's likely ties to Dupont; something any pirate would lose their head for fostering. However, Hollis couldn't make that fact known without incriminating himself for the theft of The Lancer; ''an impossible position. As it stood, Hollis' only option was to make haste to the intercept, and hope he could pull it off before catching another whiff of the Black-Hillsmen. At this point, Hollis and Morton Pickford's relationship was greatly strained. Morton was displeased at the direction their crew had taken, voting against the Mcnatty decision and questioning why it was put to a vote at all. For the duration of their working for the Baron, he took a room in the Phoenician, forsaking ''The Lancer, ''and Hollis in particular. In his quarters, he churned out sets of rutters for the fleet, cursing the circumstances that landed him in such a position. Hollis and Morton shared a curt exchange of words before the former's departure for the raid, in which Morton reminded Hollis that it was he who created the situation. It would take a series of mishaps and misfortunes for the pair's friendship to rekindle. Spurned by his best friend and Man of Coins, Hollis set out westward, to win Mcnatty his prize hostage. Along the way, the Hazards stopped at Stinkfruit Island, to load up on the rock's unique crop of fruits. Earlier, when shipwrecked on the Island months before, Hollis had discovered that the juice of the so-called stinkfruit was highly flammable; a valuable tool for burning sails and disabling enemy ships. In the process of retrieving the fruits, a freak accident resulted in Grenouille's nose getting sliced in half, and a small fire snowballing into an inferno that burned the entirety of the island to ash. Grenouille would go on to lose the appendage entirely, but survive the disfigurement. Their hold full of agricultural weaponry, the Hazards made the final leg of the journey to the interception point. There, Hollis had the grave misfortune of encountering Lucius Doherty, lying in wait aboard ''The Righteous Indignation. ''Feigning unfamiliarity, Doherty received Hollis warmly and struck a deal to divvy the spoils evenly, granting him the privilege of choosing the plan of action. At the revelation that the Dupont VIP was a candidate for governorship in favor of Kalu's independence, Hollis elected to take the hostage with minimal casualties, hoping to do as little damage to his reputation with the city as possible. With the protocol set, the two crews split up and waited for the coming target. A day later, the ship came into view and was pounced upon by the Hazards. Instead of fighting, they turtled their defenses and sat like a duck, banking on the pirates' unwillingness to sink the ship outright. Hollis took a small team on ''The Delinquent ''to regroup on ''The Righteous Indignation, ''destined to find naught but treachery aboard. The moment he had Hollis his clutches, Doherty revealed his plan. Using an enormous cannon dubbed ''The Retribution, ''Doherty sunk the Dupont vessel in one shot, killing all aboard. He revealed to Hollis that the whole thing was a ploy by Dupont to erase the candidate from the governor's race, allowing them to install their own man instead. Turning his cannon to ''The Lancer, Lucius told Hollis that he knew his true identity, the man who stole his prized ship some two months before. Before Hollis could be put to the sword, he had Arlen Tremayne detonate a stash of stinkfruits aboard The Delinquent, ''lowering the front of the flagship and causing the ''Retribution to unexpectedly backfire. The shock of such an explosion did catastrophic damage to The Righteous Indignation. Hollis and Doherty launched into a fist fight atop the rapidly sinking vessel, ending with Hollis defeating and slaying the traitorous baron. He was then rescued by Mickey and Arlen aboard The Delinquent ''and returned to ''The Lancer, with heavy hearts. They had lost their barge mate, Henry the Tall, in the confusion, but the greatest loss came at the sinking of Doherty's ship, and with it any evidence of his betrayal to the Duponts. With their mission failed, the Hazards had no choice but to return to the Phoenician, empty-handed and implicated in the killing of one of the four Pirate Barons. Upon Hollis' return, Sastor Mcnatty had little choice other than to strip him of his rank and banish him from his waters. Justified though the killing of Doherty was, it was Hollis' poor planning that tipped Doherty off in the first place. Were it not for Hollis foolishly using The Lancer, ''the very ship he stole from the Baron, the operation would have gone down without Doherty meeting his end. Though the candidate would still have met his end, Hollis and Sastor could have conspired to expose Lucius' treachery. As it stood, Sastor had to distance himself from the whole debacle, or risk retaliation from Lucky Jim Haverstram or Hieronymous Ridley. With only a day granted to him to vacate Sastor's waters, Hollis was lost. All he had left in the world was his crew, his ship, and a sudden offer of contracted employment from a mysterious patron to the Phoenician's bar. The Governor's Island After a brief run-in with Grennulous Thatch that ended in the Barge Mate's death, Hollis was hired by a secretive employer to steal a set of documents from a villa far to the west. He and his crew made their way to the estate, chaperoned by Neilson, another operative of his anonymous benefactor. Under cover of night, the team stalked into the compound and retrieved the documents, but there arose a wrinkle in their plan. Unbeknownst to Hollis, Neilson's orders included burning the villa to the ground, inhabitants and all. When the dust had settled, Hollis was back on his ship, receiving payment for a job he never knew the details of. To his surprise, the recompense he received was not in gold or riches, but in Dupont Dollar Vouchers. It was only after Neilson and the benefactor made their leave that Hollis put it all together: The villa they had been sent to sack was none other than the Governor's Island; the same governor who the candidate Hollis had a hand in killing a week earlier was set to replace. Now, the seat was verily open, with nobody besides Dupont's shill to fill it. Inadvertently, Hollis had personally carried out Dupont's master plan, boding poorly for the Elusians' future. Dejected and outcast once again, Hollis was lost. At Grenouille's suggestion, the crew set out east, for the supposedly abandoned ruins of Fort Etoufette. There, Grenouille promised, they could hole up and get back on their feet. With a well-fortified keep to call their own, the Hazards could turn their luck around and become a name to be feared once more. The Men at Etoufette Days later, the Hazards quietly sailed into ShatterShore, the rocky and unforgiving eastern region of the Elusian Isles. Torn asunder by a legendary earthquake in years past, ShatterShore was known for its steep cliffs, treacherous canyons and a landscape positively crawling with pirates, highwaymen and bandits. On the eastern shore, atop a perilous perch, sat Fort Etoufette; once the seat of colonial power in the region. Since The Uprising, the fort had been left unmanned, but not uninhabited. At the time of Hollis' arrival, a gang calling themselves Les Creneaux had taken up residence. Hollis had been informed that by the laws of ShatterShore, a man can gain control of a gang if he defeats their leader in single combat. Emboldened by the slights against him in recent weeks, Hollis was hungry for a fight. With a small team of men, Hollis snuck into The Grotto, a cave system lying beneath the fort that serves as a secret entrance to the compound. After bypassing the majority of Les Creneaux's men, and defeated Barge Mate Hito Nodaga, Hollis surfaced through the well in the castle's courtyard and challenged their leader to a duel. Then emerged Poppy Williams, boss of Les Creneaux. After a bloody and desperate fight, Williams lay dead and Hollis stood victorious. Exhausted from his injuries, Hollis passed out, sleeping into the next day. He awoke to find the Fort adjusting to its new leader, with Grenouille, Morton Pickford, Victor Hansenand others cooperating with the gang's existing officers, such as Hito Nodaga, Jonathan Skarlocke and Mister Andersen. Hollis was informed that during the night, a group of outraged loyalists to Poppy Williams had made off with one of the gang's ships, robbing their new captain. Skarlocke and Andersen were dispatched to retireve them, and were successful. Alderman Plainley, the surviving leader of the plot, was imprisoned in Etoufette's dungeon. As he adjusted to his new role, Hollis became acquainted with his new crew, as well as the local powers in the region. This included the Baron of the East, Lucky Jim Haverstram, who controlled the largest safe passage to River Heart, Cannoneer's Alley. As well, Hollis met Carmichael the Fence, who months before had rescued him from Stinkfruit Island under the name Noarn Ricardio. With his ships retrieved and the fort undergoing much-needed renovations under the supervision of Killarney Yawpton, the Architect, Hollis was ready to commence raiding, his unique methods ready to be put to use. Calloways, Mcnatties and Haverstrams For a short time, the Hazards enjoyed a steady flow of raids that filled their coffers and spirits. It wasn't long, however, before he received visits from two powerful and unhappy crews. Hollis had been conducting raids in the southeast, drawing the ire of both Sastor Mcnatty and Lucky Jim Haverstram. Mcnatty was chiefly concerned with Hollis stealing "his" Dupont ships, with Haverstram's complaints being of a more complicated sort. No traditional pirate, Lucky Jim made his coin by charging tolls for ships passing through his Alley. By raiding ships and destabilizing routes at his doorstep, Hollis had damaged Dupont's confidence in their safety, hurting Haverstram's bottom line. He made a personal visit to Etoufette, demanding Hollis stay out of his way. This came at the same time as a visit from Elizabeth Rawley, Fleet Admiral of the Mcnatty Fleet. Far from her flirtatious overtures during Hollis' tenure in the Fleet, Rawley greeted him angrily, and threatened grave consequences if he didn't lay off the southern waters. Hollis was now in an impossible position; leaving him no option to but to reduce his scope and attempt to continue raiding under the Barons' radar. Some time later, Hollis received an invitation from Lucky Jim Haverstram to accompany him to the coming Baronsmoot; a summit of pirate captains and lords to Ridley's Bilge to appoint a new member of the council. The Western seat had stayed vacant since the death of Lucius Doherty, and the power vacuum that had developed in the Black Hills had to be resolved. Haverstram asked Hollis to join him as an invited guest, drawing his excitement. Hollis saw it as an opportunity to communicate with other powers in the region, and hopefully secure a solution to the Hazards' growing cash-flow problem. He politely accepted, and days later saw Haverstram's return to Etoufette to collect him for the journey north. To Hollis' surprise, the plan was not to sail north along the coast to the Bilge, but rather to double back through Cannoneer's Alley, then take the northern channels to the Moot. With his ships in procession with the Haverstrams, Hollis set out from Etoufette with a confused, but hopeful state of mind. As the convoy made its way through the belly of the beast, Haverstram's betrayal was revealed. Outraged that Hollis ignored his warnings, Haverstram sealed the Hazards' ships in the Alley and ordered his cannons to open fire. ''The Lancer was destroyed in the ensuing battle, but miraculously the Hazards were able to scale the cliffs and silence the guns before all could be lost. Furious at the Baron's subterfuge, Hollis gave chase up the northern channels, cornering Haverstram and engaging in a naval skirmish that ended with the Baron's death. With a second council member dead, both of them at his hands, Hollis was now once again in a precarious position. Thinking quickly, Hollis elected to make the final leg of the journey himself, and deliver the news of the Baron's death to the council. The Baronsmoot Once he arrived at the Baronsmoot, Hollis publicly announced the sudden death of Lucky Jim Haverstram, spinning a tale of anonymous ambushers and a riverside robbery gone wrong. Hollis was then brought into the Bilge and interrogated by Delaney Monteith, Ridley's first mate. In the morning, Hollis was brought before the gathered crews of the Baronsmoot and made to announce the death again, met with a confused and outraged crowd. Ridley then declared that two new members of the Council of Barons would be picked at the moot, and adjourned the meeting. Once back inside, Ridley informed Hollis that he would be the Raiders' personal guest, with rooms in the Bilge for him and his crew. All the while, Francis Haverstram, son of the Baron and the only surviving Cannoneer to make it out of the Battle for the Alley, sat imprisoned in the Hazard's ship. That evening, Ridley and Mcnatty hosted the Buccaneer's Ball, a celebration ending with the open call for appointment nominations. It was there that Hollis got his first glimpse of Sheng Chi, leader of a mysterious group called the Tong. Grenouille had warned Hollis of the syndicate's newfound presence in the Elusians, and their supposed goal of dipping their toes into the region's waters. Chi was a pirate of no small pedigree, and had already made waves in the power vacuum erupting out of Lucius Doherty's death. With trepidation, Hollis took part in the ceremonies of the Ball. In the Nominations, Grenouille nominated Hollis for Baron of the East, intent on filling Lucky Jim's seat by running altogether unopposed. As Hollis was Haverstram's only guest, and word had not left the Bilge of the Baron's demise, there were no other ShatterShore captains in attendance. It was then that Alderman Plainley, the once-mutineer that had split off from the Hazards on their way north, appeared in the ballroom with none other than a newly freed Francis Haverstram. Francis received the second easterly nomination, endangering Hollis' chances of winning. Worse still, the pair could, at any time, reveal what really happened on the trip north, earning Hollis an execution from Hieronymous Ridley himself. Meanwhile, Sheng Chi self-nominated against three other western captains, one of them being the last surviving lieutenant of Alexander Croup, the Bandit King. What ensued was a complicated series of betrayals, murders and secret alliances. Hollis and Sheng Chi conspired to improve each other's odds by removing all four of their competitors from the running. Harrison Gendry was killed outright, followed by Nicolas Fleck, who Hollis lured out for her. Then, Chi kidnapped Francis Haverstram and Alderman Plainley, and brought them before the Hazards. Hollis killed Plainley on the spot, but could not bring himself to wrong Francis once again. Instead, he put him on a boat and sent him far across the ocean, never to return. The disappearances of the Easterners was then pinned on Richard Trager, who Hieronymous Ridley executed for murder. In a few short days, the path to lordship for Chi and Calloway alike was cleared of all obstacles. The sitting Barons sequestered themselves for deliberation, and the whole of the moot prepared for a long wait. Shortly after, Sheng Chi was confirmed as Baron of the West, but Hollis' decision was delayed. For some time longer, the Hazards awaited a final decision from Ridley and Mcnatty: whether to confirmed Hollis for the role or postpone the moot until a later date. The 1-1 tie continued for days, until an impasse was reached. To settle the matter, the two barons welcomed newly appointed Sheng Chi to the discussion. Hours later, Hollis' ascension to lordship was announced. With mixed feelings, Hollis departed the Moot. While he was happy to be baron, he feared the prospects of owing a woman like Sheng Chi of the Tong a favor. His Lordship, Hartford Reeves of Fort Etoufette